Well, at least the school’s not actually on fire…

Teachers and staff from Darwen Vale picket outside the school (Photo: Getty)

Hats off to the teachers of Darwen Vale High School in Lancashire who have gone on strike because the natural order has been turned on its head. There, the head teacher is soft on the unruly kids and tough on the hard-working staff – and the staff have had enough of being challenged to fights, of being sworn at, of being threatened.

They have my sympathy. As a teacher, I’ve seen things that would chill your blood. You probably wouldn’t believe me. In fact, when I wrote about some of them in my book, To Miss With Love, I wasn’t believed. But my own experiences are only the tip of the classroom iceberg: 1,000 children are suspended from school for abuse and assault every school day, and serious assaults on staff have reached a record high, with 44 teachers rushed to hospital last year. Perhaps now you might find it easier to believe that two thirds of teachers say they are being driven out of the classroom by bad behaviour.

And yet the lunatic refusal to recognise that our school system is out of control prevails. Ofsted inspectors rated behaviour at Darwen Vale as “good”. But the trouble is that when Ofsted says that, it simply means children aren’t setting the school on fire. This is precisely why Michael Gove has to reform not only our national behaviour policies, he has to reform Ofsted as well. His new inspection framework will focus on behaviour and safety; teaching and learning; and leadership. But if inspectors’ standards are woefully low, it’s difficult to really see what the point of it is.

Luckily, Mr Gove has a number of goodies for teachers: they can now use reasonable force if necessary. Heads can discipline pupils who misbehave outside the school and out of school hours. False allegations are being taken seriously and heads can press criminal charges against a guilty pupil.

Once upon a time, children could carry firecrackers in their bags, and teachers could not search for them. No more. Appeal panels will no longer be able to send excluded children back to the school from which they were excluded. And finally, music to every teacher’s ears: there is no more requirement to give parents 24 hours’ notice of detention.

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I was on Sky News yesterday with one of the teaching union leaders, discussing Darwen Vale. On the one hand, the unions support the teachers striking. On the other, they think Mr Gove goes too far with his reforms. But how can giving teachers more power be a bad thing? According to the unions, letting teachers search bags means that malicious heads will force them to do exactly that.

The trouble is, the unions hate the Conservatives so much that they would rather reject this much needed reform than credit Mr Gove with getting something right. Oh, and let’s not forget that according to the unions, this school is an exception. The rest of our schools are beautifully calm. You want proof? Ofsted says that 80 per cent of our schools have behaviour that’s good or better.

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Children, though, love the teachers who keep them working. Pupils push, teachers stamp. That’s the way it’s meant to be. Except that in 21st-century Britain we would now rather let our children “express themselves”. The result is that they have taken over the asylum. We’re the adults, though, and we’re meant to be in charge. Is that such an alien concept these days? It would seem so. There’s a reason why many people would more readily employ a Pole than a Briton: it is about standards of education. Until we regain control of the asylum and start confiscating the firecrackers again, we’re denying our children a decent future.